GREEN BAY - Packers guard T.J. Lang was driving to Lambeau Field on Thursday morning bracing himself for bad news. The team waited until Friday the last few weeks to announce its starting quarterback and predictably the ongoing status of Aaron Rodgers became a national storyline. So, the decision was made to make a choice earlier this week in advance of Sunday's NFC North winner-take-all game at Soldier Field against the Bears. "I honestly didn't think he was going to...

The Sports Xchange NFL roundup: Chargers, CB Flowers reach deal Cornerback Brandon Flowers reached a deal to sign a one-year contract with the San Diego Chargers, according to multiple reports on Tuesday. Flowers was released by the Kansas City Chiefs earlier this month and was coveted by several teams. A Pro Bowl selection last season, Flowers was released by the Chiefs because his salary-cap hit was $10.5 million for this season. He signed a five-year, $50 million...

With Aaron Rodgers back in the lineup for the Packers, the Bears defense has to prep for deep, inside vertical concepts off play action versus their nickel pressure schemes Sunday at Soldier Field. Using the All-22 coaches tape, let's break down how Rodgers exposed the Bears five-man pressure on the seam route to Jordy Nelson from the Week 9 matchup at Lambeau Field. The Packers have their Posse (or 11) personnel on the field (three wide receivers, one tight end, one running...

Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers sized up the Packers' roster and likes the way it's coming together for the 2014 season. “I think we're a bigger, more physically intimidating team,” Rodgers told ESPN.com. “We haven't had the kind of physical talent as far as size here in a while. I think there's been times -- I think back to playing Jacksonville in '08 in Jacksonville (a 20-16 Packers loss), some of the battles we've had with our division teams at times -- where you walk...

When Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman broke his left collarbone in the second game of the 1998 season, he missed five Cowboys games over the next 50 days. The wait was excruciating, even between owner Jerry Jones' news conferences. "The pain was enormous, opening up the left shoulder to throw, a very sharp pain that kept you from being able to effectively throw the football," Aikman recalled. "But once I was pain-free, I was playing. I wasn't aware of or worried about...

The Sports Xchange Packers pause camp, roll out blacklights GREEN BAY, Wisc. -- Following the course set near the end of previous offseason programs, head coach Mike McCarthy gave the team a break from the monotony of spring football. McCarthy canceled the second minicamp practice of the week Wednesday. Instead, the Packers players and staff headed to a Green Bay-area bowling center for some cosmic bowling. It's the familiar game, but played with lights off, under black-light,...

As has been the case in many games this season, Aaron Rodgers was not the problem Monday night -- but he wasn't the solution either. Overall, Rodgers played pretty well, completing 24 of 39 passes for 260 yards and two touchdowns with one interception in the Packers' 20-17 overtime loss to the Bears at Soldier Field. It was what he failed to do, however, that Packers fans will talk about in a season defined by seven losses by four or fewer points. Specifically, he failed to see...

The Sports Xchange NFL Team Report - Green Bay Packers - INSIDE SLANT GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Aaron Rodgers has started 96 games at quarterback, earned NFL MVP honors, led his team to a Super Bowl title and been named MVP of that big game. For all of Rodgers' service and accomplishments, what has oddly eluded the Green Bay Packers since he assumed the starting reins at the beginning of the 2008 season is having the same offensive line intact for an entire season. When Green...

The Packers are on a roll -- five straight wins to be exact -- and quarterback Aaron Rodgers has the versatile weapons that the Bears can only dream of possessing. The first play from scrimmage Sunday for Green Bay was a 62-yard touchdown run by Ryan Grant, the Packers' longest rush of the season. Grant wound up with 137 yards on 20 carries and two touchdowns. "We're close, but we have to clean some things up," said Grant. "We need to score more touchdowns." When...

QB Matt Flynn agreed to contract terms and will re-sign with the Packers as the primary backup to quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Flynn rejoined the Packers last season following a series of unexpected moves led him back to Green Bay as a street free agent.

North of the border, the most important game remaining on the schedule is the blame game. Plenty of agitated cheeseheads would like to lay it on Aaron Rodgers. I never advocated the Brett Favre purge, and my admiration for Favre has been well documented, but I can't blame the Packers' steep and somewhat stunning decline on Favre's absence. The Packers won 13 games a year ago and made it to the doorstep of the Super Bowl before the Giants knocked them off in...

Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers are getting back together, but team president Mark Murphy still is not sure when the reunion will take place. Murphy told ESPN that Favre was invited to Lambeau Field in 2013, but a deep run in the Mississippi High School playoffs by the Oak Grove team for which Favre served as offensive coordinator complicated the schedule. “His team kept winning and winning, so it kind of made it tough to find a time where it worked,” Murphy said. Current...

Dan, here it is in a nutshell: Aaron Rodgers is the only player that can beat the Bears on Sunday and he will beat them if the Bears don't get in his face. Agree? Bob De Weese, Port Orange, Fla. I agree that it is imperative the Bears pressure Rodgers. But Rodgers is very good under pressure. He knows how to escape and make plays on the run. So pressuring him alone isn't enough. You also have to play solid coverage, too. I could definitely envision a scenario in which Rodgers beats the Bears,...

Matt Flynn agreed to contract terms and will re-sign with the Green Bay Packers as the primary backup to quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Flynn rejoined the Packers last season after a series of unexpected moves led him back to Green Bay as a street free agent. Flynn signed a three-year, $26 million deal with the Seattle Seahawks as an unrestricted free agent after four years as a backup with the Packers. He started two games with Green Bay, including the epic 480-yard, six-touchdown record-setting...

The mutual respect between Bears defensive tackle Tommie Harris and Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers may have saved Rodgers' season, although Harris' apparent kindness still resulted in a $5,000 fine. Rodgers told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel he feared his right knee would have been injured severely if Harris had come down on his leg a little harder Sunday. Harris fell low to Rodgers' legs after the quarterback completed a two-point conversion pass to Greg Jennings, but...

The Sports Xchange NFL Team Report - Green Bay Packers - INSIDE SLANT Winning three straight division titles for only the third time since the 1970 league merger and advancing to the playoffs for the fifth consecutive January wasn't enough. Not by Green Bay's current standards for excellence, no matter the incredibly trying circumstances this season. "We have one goal here, a couple goals -- one is to win the division, and the other is to win the Super Bowl,"...

No matter how full the moon is Sunday night over Lambeau Field, Jay Cutler expects to see some lunacy looking back at him through the window of the Bears team bus. Before the visitors pull out of the parking lot, typically a pocket of Packers fans pay tribute by pulling down their camouflage pants and showing Green Bay's rivals their rumps. A bare-Packer tradition indeed. "I'm guessing [Green Bay] is similar to Kansas City, older...

New York, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - On the eve of his third Super Bowl appearance, Peyton Manning was honored with two major NFL awards, including being named the league's Most Valuable Player for an unprecedented fifth time. The 37-year-old Manning, who will lead the Denver Broncos against the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLVIII Sunday in East Rutherford, NJ, was also named the Offensive Player of the Year for a second time. The MVP voting totals released Saturday from...